The five social media metrics small businesses should care about

Over the past 18 months, as the physical world shut down, businesses became reliant on social media to remain connected to customers. As an effective and cost-efficient tool, social media has become indispensable in the digital marketing arsenal of businesses big and small.

Yet with an influx of noise in the digital world, it can be difficult to know whether your social media efforts are making an impact. While inbuilt metrics provide insight into the progress of your social media outreach, between terminology such as engagement, reach and impressions, knowing what metrics matter most can be a minefield.  

Here, we delve into the metrics your small business should be focusing on, and how you can boost outcomes.

1. Organic reach rate

Organic reach rate measures the number of unique accounts that have seen your social media post. Excluding reach that is the result of paid promotion, organic reach provides insight into how your business is connecting with new customers.

To increase your organic reach rate, the first step is to narrow your focus. Hone in on a couple of platforms, then work to understand what content performs best on your platform of choice. Once narrowed, leveraging the features which the platform is built on will help you create engaging and evergreen content.

An example of using platform features to their advantage can be seen through the Australian skin-care business, Frank Body, who successfully used the hashtag #thefrankeffect on Instagram to grow their business.

The 2021 Social Media Benchmark Report from Metigy and Social Status found that leveraging Instagram’s features resulted in the highest performing organic reach rate at an average of 10.79%. These results show that knowing how to use the platform effectively provides vital insight to help you craft a digital strategy that generates more organic reach. 

2. Click-through rate

Click-through rate (CTR) identifies the ratio of clicks a link gets against the number of impressions. Popular for electronic direct mail (EDM), this metric is used on social media to create content directing users to a website or link.

Although surprising to some, LinkedIn generates strong results for businesses in this area. Our research found that the platform delivered the highest CTR across social media platforms at an average of 4.3%, compared to only 0.38% on Facebook. 

To generate a stronger CTR, craft copy that is tailored to your target audience. Highlight keywords and use suitable images to drive your CTR up by appealing to intended targets. For example, a travel business might use language such as  “explore”, “relax” and “deal” to entice clicks, and include an image of a person relaxing on a beach.

3. Video view rate

Video view rate (VVR) counts the number of people who viewed your video content. With short-form video content gaining popularity across platforms like TikTok, it’s fast becoming one of the best ways to engage audiences. 

VVR is most effective on Facebook, boasting a whopping 45.46% view rate on average. Given these stats, it’s clear that video content is a useful tool, but how can you use it to your advantage and grow your VVR?

Ensuring you have clear and concise captions and an engaging thumbnail will direct people’s attention to the video. Additionally, using subtitles can also help boost your watch rate, and creating a call to action will encourage viewers to engage more thoroughly with your content.

4. Engagement Rate (public and private)

Engagement rate is the metric used to measure how involved your audience is with your content. Public engagement measures the engagement from your followers (likes or comments) divided by your followers. This shows how engaged your audience is, which can then be compared to competitors. Private engagement, on the other hand, is the number of engagements divided by the overall reach. Typically, private is used to track your own success over time.

This metric is particularly useful if you’re looking to expand your exposure, with YouTube leading the pack with the highest public engagement rates, averaging 0.66%. Instagram takes the top spot for private engagement rates though, at an average of 7.95%.

High engagement rates prove your content is valuable to your followers and helps boost your position in the almighty algorithm. Additionally, engaging your audience is a surefire way to build relationships and handle customer issues in a timely manner. 

When looking to boost engagement rates, make sure you’re developing content that’s relevant to your audience. Using analytics tools to gather information about your audience will give you insight into what resonates with them. It also helps to schedule content to coincide with when your audience is most likely to be online.

5. Growth Rate

Rounding us off, growth rate refers to how quickly your social profiles are growing, typically measured at the beginning and end of every month. As digital networking gains in popularity, we’re seeing LinkedIn again tops the charts for the fastest growth rate at 2.82%.

Growth rate is typically the most understood of all the metrics, and is a sign of how well all your other metrics are performing. Creating unique content, posting at the right times, using hashtags and engaging with followers are all tactics that will help to improve your growth rate. 

With more consumers shifting online every day, SMEs need to take stock of how to get the best value out of social media. In addition to measuring metrics, SMEs are turning to artificial intelligence supported social media tools to help build data-led strategies and reduce fatigue.

By using all of the best tools available and referring to key metrics, SMEs will be able to cut through the noise and reach their digital audiences successfully.